Thousands of Abandoned Oil Wells Plague Texas Landscape

The booming oil production in Texas is leaving behind thousands of oil wells that are no longer active.    The wells no longer in production are being plugged by their respective operators, but if an inactive well hasn't had a solvent operator on record for a year, the plugging duty falls on the shoulders of the state's oil and gas regulator, the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC).    But the RRC is doing a sloppy job in plugging the orphan wells, and some of these continue to leak or blow out, spewing toxic chemicals and gases,…